Hank swift



y 23, 1967 HARUM! HOSOTAN! 3,321,150

HANK SWIFT Filed July 14, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 y 3, 1967 HARUMI HOSQTANI 3,321,150

HANK SWIFT Filed July 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 9%? FIG: 9

y 23, 1967 HARUMI HCSSOTANI 332L150 HANK SWIFT 7 Filed July 14, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 1-4 FIG, i

y 3, 1967 HARUMI HOSOTANI 3,321,150

HANK SWIFT Filed July 14, 1964 5 Sheets- Sheet 5 FIG. 15

United States Patent 6 Claims. (Cl. 242-1101) This invention relates to apparatus for rewinding hank yarn of natural or synthetic fibers.

The present invention has for its object to provide an apparatus for rewinding hank yarn under low tension and at high speed.

Another object of the invention is to apply the rewinding apparatus to the direct twisting of hank yarn for rationalization of the twisting process while enabling the twisting to be effected under low tension and at high speed.

Conventionally, the rewinding of hank yarn has usualily included releasing the filament from a hank swift while rotating the latter under tension of the filament being rewound and winding the filament into a cone, cheese, or other configuration. In such procedure, however, friction resistance in the bearing regions of the rotating hank swift and air resistance thereto causes a substantial tension to the filament. For this reason, in common practice, the maximum rewinding speed for yarns of lower deniers including regenerated cellulose filament has been limited to less than 2 00 meters per minute.

. Rewinding speeds higherthan the maximum value may cause the yarn to be stretched under excessive tension beyond its elastic limit and particularly, if the yarn is fluffy and thus subjected to a substantial drag during the rewinding process, may cause a substantial shock to the filament possibly resulting in its breakage. Therefore, fabric woven with yarn prepared at such high speeds would have irregularities in texture and in dyeing quality.

Further, in the rewinding, for example, of regenerated artificial fibers in cake form, a resilient plate of rubber or celluloid has usually been employed to prevent the collapsing of the cake. As is well known, the plate is rolled into a tubular form and inserted into the hollow of the cake to press against its inner peripheral surface under the resilience of the plate itself. This pressure naturally causes an increase in rewinding resistance which in turn forms a cause for yarn breakage during the rewinding process. The present invention can also be applied to the rewinding of such yarn in cake form.

It will be appreciated from the following description that the present invention is applicable not only to the rewinding of hank yarn of regenerated cellulose fibers but to the rewinding of filaments and spun yarn of natural and synthetic fibers, for example, to that in processes preparatory to the weaving or knitting operation including yarn dyeing, warping and spooling. In general, the yarn tension in the winding process is to be limited to the order of 0.1 to 0.3 gram per denier irrespective of the type of yarn, and upon this basis, the winding speed is adjusted to conform withthe denier and count of yarn.

In such winding process, as the takr-up speed increases, the required number of spindles and drums and hence the floor requirement are reduced. On the other hand, the larger the amount of yarn in each wound unit and the lower the frequency of yarn breakage, labor required to attend the winding operation can be saved. Thus, the first requisite for obtaining uniform, high-quality knitted or woven fabrics is that the yarn is worked under limited ten sion at each stage of the process.

The present invention overcomes the above deficiencies involvedin conventional rewinding methods, making it possible to rewind hank yarns under low tension and at high speed even if they are low in deniers.

The important feature of the invention is that a guide ring is arranged sidewise of the hank swift which has a larger diameter than the latter and the yarn is drawn from the hank swift in a direction parallel to the axis thereof and proceeds to slide over the outer periphery of the guide ring to be wound into a cone or a cheese while the swift is held stationary or freely rotatable or is positively driven in rotation.

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a few embodiments of the invention and in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the rewinder;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of same;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the driving part of the rewinder;

FIG. 4 is a vertical axial cross section of the essential part of the apparatus;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are a front and a side elevation, respectively of another embodiment of the invention having a modified form of guide ring;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are a front and a vertical cross-sectional side elevation, respectively, of one form of hank swift usable in the present invention;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are a front and a side elevation, respectively, of the spoke structure used in the hank swift shown in FIGS. 7 and 8;

FIG. 10 illustrates the mode of use of the spoke structure in side elevation;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a typical conventional yarn-twisting operation;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram comparing the inventive process with the conventional one;

FIGS. 13 and 14 are a front and a side elevation of a further embodiment of the present invention as applied to yarn twisting; and

FIG. 15 is an enlarged cross-sectional side elevation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 13 and 14.

Referring to the drawings and first to FIGS. 1 to 4, the rewinder illustrated includes a bank swift 4 with a guide ring 3 arranged sidewise thereof. The hank swift 4 is mounted on a rotative shaft 2 supported in a bearing 1 and carrying at one end a transmission roller 5. Another roller 9 is mounted fast on a shaft integral with a driven pulley 8, which is operatively connected with a drive pulley 6 by way of a belt 7. A holder arm 10 is rotatable about the axis of the shaft of the driven pulley 8 and carries an intermediate roller 11, which transmits rotation to the hank swift 4 by way of the transmission roller 5 and shaft 2.

3 To ensure the transmission of rotation, a tension spring 12 is arranged to resiliently hold the intermediate roller 11 in contact with the transmission roller 5, as clearly shown in FIG. 3.

A hook member 13 is carried on the holder arm 10 at its extremity and is engageable with a pin 140; secured to the extremity of a lower arm 14, fixed to the machine frame. With this arrangement, it will be noted that rotation of the hank swift 4 can be interrupted when desired simply by placing the hook 13 in engagement with the pin 14w thereby to separate the intermediate roller 11 from the transmission roller 5.

As shown in FIG. 4, the guide ring 3 is detachably secured to the hank swift 4 through the intermediary of an anchor member 16, which is rockable about the axis of a pin 15, and a tension spring 17 and thus is held in position even when the hank swift rotates.

Incidentally, the guide ring 3 is not always required to be fixed to the hank swift but may be arranged in spaced-apart relation thereto so as to be held stationary or rotatable independently of the hank swift, as required.

Also, the configuration of the guide ring is not limited to a circular form as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4 as long as the arn is drawn over the guide ring through a point 18 thereon which follows a circularpath having a diameter larger than that of the hank swift 4. For example, the guide ring 3 may be formed so as to be freely movable relative to the swift shaft 2, as shown in FIGS. and 6.

A snail wire 19 is fixed at a distance from the guide ring 3 coaxially therewith.

For operation of the apparatus such as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 or 5 and 6, a hank 20 is mounted on the bank swift 4 while the latter is held stationary and the yarn is threaded over the guide ring 3 and through the snail wire 19, guide rollers 21 and 22 so that in operation the yarn 20 from the hank swift 4 slides over the guide ring 3, which is larger in diameter than the hank swift 4, while revolving about the periphery of the ring and is wound at the take-up end into a cake, cheese or other desired form.

Obviously the hank should be mounted on the hank swift 4 so that-the yarn 20 is drawn from the latter in the same direction as that in which the hank swift is rotated. Further, simultaneously with the start of the rewinding operation, the hook 13 is disengaged from the pin 14a, carried on the fixed arm 14, to allow rotation of the hank swift 4. It is to be noted that, if the rotation of the hank swift 4 is such as to cause the hank thereon to rotate at a peripheral speed corresponding to the speed at which the yarn is taken up, the yarn being released from the swift 4 tends to get afloat therefrom thereby to render the rewinding operation difiicult.

Under these circumstances, it has been found that best results can be obtained when the peripheral speed of the. hank yarn is reduced to approximately 50% to 80% of the take-up speed and that in this condition no substantial change in tension is noticeable.

To facilitate the mounting and dismounting of hank yarn onto and from the hank swift, it is very desirable to construct the hank swift, for example, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. This form of hank swift includes spoke members having a yarn-engaging portion jointly forming a guide ring which is adjustable in diameter.

For efficient rewinding operation, the hank yarn as mounted on the hank swift should be suitably tensioned. However, where the hank swift has a fixed diameter appropriate to impart such tension to the hank yarn, it is not easy to mount or dismount the yarn onto or from the hank swift and the hank mounted thereon tends not only to become loose and slip off the hank swift but to go out of order adversely affecting the rewinding operation.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, a spoke body 24 is rotatably mounted on the shaft 23 of the hank swift and has a flange portion 25, which carries a number (for example, six) of regularly spaced-apart pins 26. A corresponding number of spoke members 28 are pivoted at their inner end 28a to the respective pins 26 and each have a yarnretaining portion 27.

As illustrated in detail in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the spoke members are formed of wire and each include arcuate portions 29 and 30 extending from the yarn retaining portion 27. The arcuate portions 29, 30 of the spoke members each define a loop segment as seen in FIG. 9A and jointly form an annular peripheral ring, as clearly seen in FIG. 7.

Fitted over the spoke body 24 is a tubular cap 31 securely held in place by nut means 32. The cylindrical wall of the cap is formed with slots 33 to loosely receive the respective spokes 28. A compression spring 34 is arranged between the cap 31 and the flange portion 25 of the spoke body for the purpose of preventing dislocation of the cap 31 under vibration during rotation of the hank swift. A handle 35 is fixed to the spoke body 24 for the purpose of adjusting the diameter of the annular formation on the hank swift including yarn-retaining portions 27.

To mount or dismount the bank yarn onto or from the hank swift, the nut 32 is loosened by the right hand to release the cap 31 while holding the handle 35 in the left hand. Then, the spoke members 28 are pulled radially inwardly toward the handle by the thumb of the left hand while gripping the handle 35 with the fingers of the left hand and turning the cap 31 about the spoke body 24 to cause the spokes 28, extending through the slots 33 in the cap, to tilt down about the axis of the respective pins 26. By doing this, the yarn-retaining portions 27 of the spokes 28 are moved radially inwardly toward the shaft 23 to reduce the diameter of the annular'ring formation including such yarn-retaining portions 27. 7

On the hank swift thus reduced in diameter is mounted a bank yarn and then the spoke members 28 are drawn this time in an opposite direction by the left hand fingers with the thumb of the left hand placed on the handle 35. -By doing this, the spokes 28 are raised to increase the diameter of the swift until an appropriate tension is imparted to the hank yarn on the swift. Finally, the nut 32 is tightened by the right hand to clamp the cap 31.

In preparation for the hank rewinding, the starting end of the hank yarn 36 (FIG. 10) is drawn from the swift and passed over the peripheral ring formation defined by the arcuate portions 30 of the spokes 28 and inserted through the snail wire 37, arranged on the axis of the hank swift. In operation the yarn 38 from the hank slides over the peripheral ring formation defined by the arcuate spoke portions 30, while revolving about the formation to balloon between the hank swift and the snail wire 37 and is finally wound up at the take-up station 39.

As described above, the hank swift of the present invention includes a handle 35 affixed to the spoke body 24 which can be operated with ease to adjust the hank'swift to any desired diameter. Additionally, the arcuate portions of the spokes jointly forming the yarn-engaging annular ring are continuously held in a circular formation during the adjustment of the swift diameter, making the mounting and dismounting of the hank extremely easy.

Moreover, with this arrangement the hank yarn can be held on the swift in an appropriately tensioned state to be smoothly drawn out. The swift structure including a number of spoke members with their arcuate portions together forming an annular guide ring eliminates the need of providing a separate guide ring and is usable effectively to perform rewinding operation under limited yarn tension and at high speed.

Experimental results obtained according to the inventive method are compared with those obtained by the conventional one in the following table.

spring arranged between the base of the guide ring 43 and one end of the anchor member 51 for facilitating the engagement and disengagement of ring 43.

In the table, the number of yarn breaks is an average for the yarn length of 100,000 meters. The yarn used is cupro-ammonium rayon yarn of 75 deniers.

The use of the rewinding apparatus according to the present invention for the yarn twisting is advantageous in that it enables hank yarn to be directly twisted under low tension and at high speed without deteriorating the yarn quality and thus realizes a materially rationalized yarn twisting process.

conventionally in twisting hank yarn, for example, of regenerated synthetic fibers, hank yarn has first been wound on a bobbin for twisting use and the bobbin subsequently mounted on a twisting machine to be rewound on a bobbin, Le, a so-called cylinder while being twisted.

Lightly twisted yarn of the order of 150 twists per meter has been rewound from the cylinder into a hank for dyeing while yarn twisted more heavily has been rewound on a bottle bobbin or a tin can bobbin for heat or other treatment to fix the twist. Such conventional process is illustrated in the diagram of FIG. 11.

As clearly observed in the diagram, the conventional process has included three steps to obtain bottle or tin can bobbins of heavily twisted yarn from hanks or to obtain lightly twisted hank yarn starting from hanks. In these steps, the twisting of low-denier yarn such as of regenerated cellulose fibers involves sustained tension which reduces the stretching capacity of the fiber adversely affecting the quality of the fabric woven therefrom. In addition, the considerably large number of yarn guides through which the yarn passes induces flufiing, yarn breakage and other undesirable causes of deterioration and thus forms a cause of inefficiency in the weaving process.

The method of the present invention is designed to eliminate these deficiencies encountered in conventional processes and makes it possible to twist hank yarn under low tension and at high speed without any danger of deteriorating the yarn quality even if the yarn is low in denier, as for example in the case of regenerated synthetic fiber. In addition, the inventive method simpl-ifies the twisting process to a substantial extent and is effective to raise the twisting efficiency.

One practical application of the present invention to yarn twisting will next be described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 15.

The apparatus illustrated includes a rotative shaft 41 supported in a bearing 40 therefor and a yarn guide passage 42 (FIG. is formed in the shaft 41 axially thereof and includes an inlet aperture opening in the righthand end of the shaft and an outlet aperture 42a opening radially outwardly in the left-hand end of the shaft 41.

A bank swift 45 is supported on the rotative shaft 41 by Way of bearings 46 and carries at its opposite ends guide rings 43 and 44. The rotative shaft 41 has a lefthand extension to carry a driven pulley, which is connected with a drive pulley 48 by a belt 4 9 to drive the shaft 41. One of the guide rings 43 carries a pin 50, on which an anchor member 51 is pivotally mounted. The hank swift includes a spoke body 53 formed vw'th an engaging recess 53a, in which a projection 51a on the anchor member 51 is engaged under the bias of a tension A snail wire 54 is arranged at an appropriate distance from the adjacent guide ring and has a guide eye 54a held in coaxial relation to the guide ring. Fixed magnets 55 (FIG. 13) are arranged to act upon the adjacent guide ring 44, which is made of steel, thereby to hold the hank swift 45 stationary.

With this arrangement, the hank yarn on the swift 45 is rewound while the latter is held stationary and during such rewinding operation double twisting of the yarn is effected as the yarn is guided to rotate with the radial outlet aperture of the axial guide passage 42 in the shaft 41 after passing therethrough. This enables the yarn to be immediately wound into a bottle or tin can bobbin, or into a hank, cone, cheese or other desired configuration, as will readily be recognized.

To describe the mode of practicing the inventive method in more detail, the guide ring 43 is secured in place after it has once been removed from the twisting apparatus to allow hank yarn 56' to be mounted on the hank swift 45.

Subsequently, the initial end of the yarn is pulled out from the hank on the swift 45 and over the periphery of one of the guide rings 43, larger in diameter than the swift 45, to pass through a tension device 57 arranged at the adjacent end of the rotative shaft 41 and through the axial passage 42 therein. The yarn leaving the passage 42 through its outlet aperture 42a opening radially outward passes slidably over the periphery of the other guide ring 44, which is larger in diameter than said guide ring 43, and through the snail wire 54, guide rollers 58 and 59 and another tension device 60 and reaches the take-up station 6-1 to be rewound into a cone, a cheese or a hank or also a bottle or tin can bobbin.

During the rewinding operation, since the hank swift is mounted on the rotative shaft by way of bearings 46 and held stationary by magnets 55 arranged above and below the larger-diameter guide ring 44, the yarn released from the hauk 56 is caused to revolve about the smallerdiameter guide ring 43 while sliding over the periphery thereof as the shaft 41 rotates and thus a primary twist is imposed upon the yarn by cooperation of the swift 45, guide ring 43 and rotating shaft 41. The yarn thus twisted leaves the shaft 41 through the outlet aperture 42a and proceeds to revolve about the larger-diameter guide ring 44 while sliding over its periphery and further proceeds to the snail wire 54 while ballooning between the latter and the guide ring 44. in this manner, a secondary twist is imposed upon the yarn by cooperation of the rotating shaft 41, guide ring 44 and snail wire 54 to complete the so-called double twisting of the yarn.

According to the present invention, the start and stop of the rotation of the rotative shaft 41 and the take-up 61 is effected by use of an appropriate clutch or brake device in a manner so that both at the start and end of the rewinding operation the rotative shaft 41 and the takeup 61 are operated simultaneously. This together with the provision of the tension devices 57 and 60 prevents formation of any irregular twists resulting from non-uniformity in yarn tension. Additionally, since the hank yarn is released axially of the rotative shaft from the hank swift held stationary, as described hereinbefore,

it is subjected only to a very limited tension so that the double twisting can be performed efficiently at high speed.

As apparent from the diagram of FIG. 12, illustrating the rewinding and twisting process according to the present invention in comparison with the conventional process, the twisting process of the present invention is extremely simple from the standpoint of the number of steps required and involves only a limited yarn tension which enables the twisting operation to be performed with a winding speed twice as high as that used in the conventional single twisting, if the same r.-p.m. of the spindle is employed to give the same amount of twists. This means that according to the present invention even low-denier yarns such as of regenerated synthetic fiber can be twisted with extremely high efficiency without deteriorating the quality of the yarn and fabric woven therefrom.

What is claimed is:

1. A hank swift for use in rewinding hank yarn comprising a spoke body, an operating handle secured to said spoke body, and spoke members secured to said spoke body for pivotal movement relative thereto, each of said spoke members including a hank yarn retaining portion and arcuate portions extending therefrom, said arcuate portions of the spoke members overlapping and cooperatively defining an annular peripheral guide ring, a cap encircling the spoke body and having slots for the passage of said spoke members, said operating handle being operable to rotate the spoke body relative to the cap to pivot the spoke members relative to the spoke body and vary the diameter of said hank yarn retaining portions and said arcuate portions.

2. A blank swift as claimed in claim 1 wherein said retaining portions are disposed along a diameter which is less than that of the arcuate portions.

3. A hank swift as claimed in claim 1 wherein said arcuate portions of each spoke member define a loop segment.

4. A hank swift as claimed in claim 1 comprising a nut threadably engaged with said spoke body for securing said cap relative to said spoke body.

5. A hank swift as claimed in claim 1 comprising pins supporting said spoke members from the spoke body.

6. A hank swift as claimed in claim 4 comprising spring means between said cap and the spoke body for preventing dislocation of the cap under vibration during rotation of the swift.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 923,032 5/ 1909 Dubini 242-1 8 981,520 1/1911 Barker 242-18 1,911,864 5/1933 Wegmann 57-156 1,920,556 8/ 1933 Gubelmann 2421 10 1,932,598 10/1933 Parrier 2421 10 2,524,217 10/1950 Ancet 57-58 X 2,550,136 4/1951 Clarkson 57-156 2,638,732 5/1953 Sabaton 57--58 2,692,471 10/1954 Landolt 57-58 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,062,704 12/ 19 5 3 France.

STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner. 

1. A HANK SWIFT FOR USE IN REWINDING HANK YARN COMPRISING A SPOKE BODY, AN OPERATING HANDLE SECURED TO SAID SPOKE BODY, AND SPOKE MEMBERS SECURED TO SAID SPOKE BODY FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT RELATIVE THERETO, EACH OF SAID SPOKE MEMBERS INCLUDING A HANK YARN RETAINING PORTION AND ARCUATE PORTIONS EXTENDING THEREFROM, SAID ARCUATE PORTIONS OF THE SPOKE MEMBERS OVERLAPPING AND COOPERATIVELY DEFINING AN ANNULAR PERIPHERAL GUIDE RING, A CAP ENCIRCLING THE SPOKE BODY AND HAVING SLOTS FOR THE PASSAGE OF SAID SPOKE MEMBERS, SAID OPERATING HANDLE BEING OPER- 